When Leah Jolly and I launched the Lactation Business Coaching podcast, honestly all we really wanted to do was chat about the ins and outs of being private practice lactation consultants. Honestly, if we had had any sense of the steep learning curve of podcasting, we may never have actually taken the plunge.
Now that we’re in our 20s (episode-wise, that is), we’re in a good groove with productivity and tech. I though it would be helpful to share how we do things in the hopes that other lactation consultants will start their own podcasts, for parents or professionals or both.
Our inspiration
Leah and I started our conversations by listing out some podcasts that we thought. We listened to a TON of podcasts, starting of course with Breastfeeding Outside the Box and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine podcast. This American Life is our favorite for production values, and we both love MarieTV.
We came to find that there were certain elements we knew we wanted to incorporate:
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structured conversation
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fun theme music
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standardized intro and outro
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professional sound mixing
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paying sponsors
Finding our concept
Content-wise, we knew we wanted to focus just on business topics and not address the clinical at all. Like all IBCLCs, Leah and I love tricky clinical situations as much as the next IBCLC, and we both go way overboard on continuing education, but we share a passion for business and that’s where we felt we would have the most fun.
Once we nailed down our direction, we started a shared Google Sheet where we started brainstorming topic ideas.
Organizing our workflow
We quickly realized that Google Drive was not the most efficient way to manage a project like this, so we researched different systems and landed on Trello, which uses lists and cards for a Kanban-style workflow. Each episode gets its own card, and we move it down the line as we move through each step of the workflow. Here’s a list of each step:
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Brain dump (where we keep all our ideas)
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To schedule (when we choose a topic we definitely want to podcast about)
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Scheduled recording (we batch our content and record multiple episodes in one session)
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Raw audio (Leah makes edit notes before we give our audio to the editor)
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Editing phase (Annie works with editor to create final audio. Annie writes show notes & creates graphics)
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Upload and Schedule (our virtual assistant Stephanie Granade takes care of this piece)
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Promoted (after each episode is published the card ends up here).
Workflow update (April 2020)
We actually moved our processes out of Trello and into Clickup, which allowed us to assign tasks and customize reminders in a much more targeted way. I also wanted something that would organize my entire business and let me see all my personal tasks and due dates at-a-glance. It’s way more robust than Trello, maybe even too robust, but it’s been working really well for me.
Planning each episode
Once we’ve chosen an episode topic, we do research and chat back and forth by text or Marco Polo to hash out what exactly we want to cover. We create an outline with 3 key points to cover. If the episode has a sponsor, our outline includes the copy for the sponsorship. Leah chooses a marketing tip and I choose a tech tip; we try to make these connect with the topic we’re covering. We use a Microsoft Word document and store it in Dropbox. Each episode is numbered and has its own folder.
Creating the audio
We knew we wanted a theme song (I mean, who wouldn’t?) and fortunately I knew a homeschooled tween who happened to be a great musician. It helped that his dad has a recording studio in our basement. We paid Silas Wade to create and produce our theme song and we just love everything about it!
We scripted our intro (“You’re listening to Lactation Business Coaching with Annie and Leah…”) and the outro (“Thanks for listening…”) and we recorded each version SO MANY TIMES because we just kept stumbling! It was harder than we ever thought it would be.
We use Zoom to record our audio and we both have a Blue Yeti microphone. I initiate the Zoom meeting and record the audio to my computer. We save the raw audio file to Dropbox. We record 3-4 episodes each session and we always quit the Zoom meeting and launch a new one for each episode. I am always worried that I’m going to hit the wrong button and erase all our hard work!
Leah gives the episode the first listen and makes notes for places where we need things cut out. Sometimes we’ll have to start a thought over from the beginning so she makes time code for each place we want the editor to notice.
Our audio then goes to our editor. Our intro and outro are separate assets that he has on hand to cut together with the episode audio. He makes sure the theme music transitions sound seamless, and he takes care of any egregious ums and ahs that sneak their way in.
We started out with a service called Podcast Press, then tried an editor we found on Fiverr. Ultimately we landed on a service called Podcast Rocket and have been very happy with their editing services.
Preparing for publication
While the audio is being edited, I get started turning the outline into our show notes. I make sure to include any resources we mentioned in the episode. If the episode has a sponsor, I include their referral link or a discount code.
I make the episode graphic on Canva.com using our logo. I add in the episode title, the episode number, and information for the episode sponsor (if we have one). I make a wide graphic and a square thumbnail.
Uploading and promoting
We use Simplecast to publish our podcast and make sure it gets on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Play. It also creates a player that we can embed into our website and my website. We publish every other Tuesday and Simplecast lets us schedule our episodes to post at the date and time we want.
For our Patreon community, we make the episode available on Sunday nights, so I create an “Early Access” post there with the audio file. After the episode goes public I swap it out for the published audio link.
The thumbnail gets scheduled into Planoly to publish to my Instagram feed and the Facebook page for the podcast. Finally, I create a scheduled email in my Convertkit account that sends an email out to everyone on my mailing list.
Why we love podcasting
Honestly, it’s because we love talking to each other about running our businesses! I’ve learned so much from Leah and through researching these topics. We’ve been so happy to have such great sponsors, too!
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The Lactation Private Practice Essential Toolkit (yes, I pay for my own sponsorships)
If you listen to the sponsored episodes, you might even hear discount codes or special offers!
We hope we’ve inspired you to start your own podcast for lactation professionals and helpers. The more the merrier!
